The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the Israeli authorities’ impunity for a massive increase in crimes and has demanded the protection of all journalists.
Over the three years of the war in Gaza since 7 October 2023 — which has spread to Lebanon and the West Bank — nearly 210 journalists have been killed by the Israeli military, at least 71 slain due to their work, and 59 detained, the watchdog reports.
Compared with the previous three-year period (2020–2023), the number of journalists killed by the Israeli army has increased 24-fold, while the number detained has nearly tripled, RSF said in a new report.
“Comparing the appalling number of journalists killed and imprisoned over the past three years with the statistics from the previous three-year period makes it possible to measure the massive scale of the abuses committed by Israeli armed forces since 7 October 2023 in Palestine,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of the RSF Middle East Desk.
“The impunity surrounding crimes committed against the press under the orders of the Israeli authorities in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon has continued, unpunished, for far too long.
“Israel’s allied governments must put pressure on the next cabinet formed following the Knesset elections [last month], whatever its composition, to investigate these crimes and put an end to the abuses.”
Over the past three years of war, the number of journalists killed by the Israeli military while working or in relation to their work was 24 times higher than in the previous three-year period, the RSF research found.
Also, the number of news professionals arbitrarily detained because of their work has tripled.
Of the nearly 210 journalists killed in Gaza and Lebanon between October 2023 and October 2026, at least 71 were targeted or killed by Israeli soldiers in connection with their work, compared with just three between October 2020 and October 2023.
59 arbitrarily detained
Meanwhile, 59 journalists have been arbitrarily detained by Israeli authorities for their work over the past three years, compared with 22 during the preceding period. This makes Israel one of the world’s 10 largest prisons for journalists for the fourth consecutive year.
Of the 71 journalists killed by the Israeli military due to their work over the past three years, 63 were killed in Gaza and eight in southern Lebanon.
Some journalists were targeted by drones, such as Amal Khalil, a reporter for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar who was killed in southern Lebanon on 14 April 2026, and Mohamed Balousha, a correspondent for the Emirati television channel Al-Mashhad, killed in the Gaza Strip on 14 December 2024.
Others were targeted by snipers, such as Yasser Mamdouh El-Fady, a journalist for the Kan’an News agency, who was killed on 11 February 2024 while reporting near Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza.
Fadi Al-Wahidi, a journalist with the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, was also seriously wounded by a sniper on 9 October 2024 in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Between 2020 and 2023, one journalist was killed in Lebanon: Lokman Slim, whose murder is attributed to Hezbollah, although the investigation has still not reached an official conclusion. On 7 October 2023, two Israeli journalists, Roee Idan and Ayelet Arnin, were killed while working by armed members of Hamas.
‘Double-tap’ strikes
Palestinian reporters have fallen victim to the Israeli military’s use of “double-tap” strikes, a tactic involving two attacks on the same location within a short period of time. As a result, those who arrive at the scene following the initial strike — generally journalists and rescue workers — are also killed.
On 25 August 2025, the Israeli military killed five Palestinian journalists who had rushed to Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to cover the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike.
Mariam Abu Dagga was one of the five journalists killed. She was among the journalists and first responders who had rushed to the scene after a first strike killed Hossam al-Masri, a photographer working for Reuters. The second strike, which killed Abu Dagga, was captured live by television cameras, with the journalist and her colleagues clearly visible in the footage.
Haitham al-Mousawi, a Lebanese photographer for Al-Akhbar, was also wounded in a double-tap strike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut.
West Bank: 12 journalists detained in the first month of Gaza offensive
Alongside the conflict in Gaza, the Israeli military has been conducting its offensive against the press in the rest of occupied Palestine.
Of the 59 journalists arrested by the Israeli authorities since 7 October 2023, 40 were detained in the occupied West Bank, including 12 within the first 30 days after the start of the offensive in Gaza.
By comparison, a total of 21 journalists were detained during the three years preceding the war launched in retaliation for the 7 October attacks.
To justify these mass arrests, the Israeli judicial system has made extensive use of “administrative detention”. This legal provision allows individuals to be imprisoned indefinitely, without charge or trial.
The Palestinian Authority, which has also participated in the repression of journalists, has likewise stepped up its actions since 7 October 2023. In several cases — not included on the RSF map because the arrests lasted less than 48 hours — its security and intelligence services detained media professionals who were subsequently thrown behind bars by the Israeli armed forces.
No convictions have been handed down in connection with the 71 killings of Palestinian and Lebanese journalists who were targeted or killed due to their work by the Israeli military since October 2023, despite the fact that these killings appear to constitute war crimes.
Shireen Abu Akleh shot by sniper
An illustration of how this impunity long predates October 7 is the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist and one of Al Jazeera’s best-known correspondents. She was shot and killed on 11 May 2022 by an Israeli soldier while covering clashes in the Jenin area, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Although authorities have apparently identified the perpetrator, he has never been convicted. Israel’s then-Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, even publicly defended him.
Since 7 October 2023, the Israeli authorities have also maintained impunity for cases of abuse committed against international journalists.
Eleven reporters aboard ships belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international maritime initiative seeking to break the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, were arrested in international waters in violation of international conventions.
Despite reports submitted to RSF concerning cases of torture and sexual violence suffered by these journalists at the hands of Israeli security forces, no perpetrators have been identified or prosecuted.
RSF is working to combat this impunity. The NGO has filed five complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning war crimes committed by the Israeli military against journalists in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023.
Republished from Reporters Without Borders by Pacific Media Watch.
